Staff Predictions

Travis Graf: The spread and the early bet percentage doesn’t bode well for Kentucky on paper. Texas has talent, but hasn’t put it together. I’d feel better about Kentucky’s chances if Arthur Kaluma was ruled out tomorrow, as I think he’s a bad matchup for the Cats’ forwards. I have a hard time seeing Kentucky winning a road game against a coach rumored to be on the hot seat down three ball handlers. Koby Brea will have to be huge in this one for Kentucky to pull it off. I’m going to go with Texas winning 77-74.

Jeff Drummond: Kentucky has gone on the road and won without Lamar Butler and they’ve won at home without Jaxson Robinson, but I’m having a hard time imagining that they can go to Texas and win without both. That’s just too big an ask for me against a team that is balanced (34th oEff, 52nd dEff). and features a terrific player in Tre Johnson, who has topped 24 points in two of his last three games. The Wildcats will need guys like Andrew Carr, Ansley Almonor, Trent Noah, Collin Chandler, and Travis Perry to all play their best in order to pull an upset. Texas 78, Kentucky 72

David Sisk: I truly don’t know what to make of Saturday’s game between Kentucky and the home standing Texas Longhorns. The Cats opened as a 1.5 point underdog. That has jumped to 3.5 as of Friday night. UK is 3-1 outright as an underdog in SEC play. This is only the fourth time Texas has been favored in the SEC. They are 2-1 outright. They also haven’t held serve at home. The Horns are only 2-4 at home inside the conference. Obviously, Kentucky is ravaged by injuries, so Texas has had a chance to gameplan without Jaxson Robinson and Lamont Butler. Even with the injuries, Kentucky is a better shooting team of the two, and they also move the ball much better. One big issue for UK is not to let Tre Johnson get the hot hand. The freshman is a game breaker. The bettors like Texas. I’m going to buck the trend. Kentucky 72 Texas 70.